Soul Kingdom: Part Yellow
by Soul Rider
Summary: A seven part story, revealing many hidden mysteries in the lives of some of the most famous heroes in the gaming world. How will these heroes accept the secrets behind the worlds' origins and how will they combat against the true evil that threatens it? Ratchet's story.
1. Prologue: Pre-Paradox

**This is another part of the _Soul Kingdom_ series! Introducing Ratchet's story! Hope you enjoy and be sure to leave a review! All characters belong with their respective series!**

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 **Prologue: Pre-Paradox**

Is this the gateway to the afterlife? I clearly remember Allister firing at me with his Omniwrench. I felt so much pain, so much. I could barely stand. When I looked at him... the first lombax I had ever met in my life... all I saw was betrayal and pure rage. And then, I felt myself falling.

I thought I heard someone call out to me as I fell. It sounded like Clank.

Clank. After we have finally reunited, he had to leave to take care of the Great Clock. But in the end... it was me who left. Left him to defend the Clock from Azimuth. All... by himself. Clank... forgive me...

 _"Step forward,"_ a sudden, disembodied voice called out.

Who is that? And where am I? To find that out, I did what the voice had requested and stepped forward.

 _"Please take this."_ A Combustor appeared before me. I immediately checked where I keep my weapons and I find it empty. Maybe it's because I'm dead... maybe? But if Im dead, why am I being given a weapon? This is too weird, this is Clank's territory. So I just grabbed the Combustor by the handle.

A moment later, a second platform appeared followed by a bridge that connected the three.

Right. The platform far away with that... thing. Really, what is that guy? I have no idea what is going on. Maybe that... thing has an idea? With the thought in my mind, I slowly crossed the bridge towards the center platform that was created. Maybe I'll finally get some answers about who that guy is once I finally meet him face-to-face?

 _Step forward and meet your link."_

"My 'link'?" I couldn't help but ask. "I don't even know what that thing is."

 _"He is not your enemy. I promise."_ Looks like I still didn't have a choice. I turned my focus to the guy, who was staring back at me in bewilderment. Nothing new to me, being a member of an endangered species in this dimension... if this even was my dimension.

The guy was really strange. He had no arms, no legs, no neck - how does he breathe?! - but his hands, feet and head seemed to be kinetically connected to his torso, which was purple with a white ring and a red hood. His head looked like a peach colored vegetable was stuck on him and his yellow and orange (or is it ginger?) hair looked like rabbit ears. So in all, he's strange, but a little goofy looking.

We both were cautiously walking toward each other. When he noticed that I was carrying my Combustor, the thing got defensive, raising his gloved fists. I quickly hid the shotgun to not show harm.

"Whoa, hold on," I said, holding a hand up. "I'm not here to fight. But I would like to know what you are." The thing only stayed in his current position.

"I was wondering the same thing," he said. Did...did he really talk? With no voice box? With no neck in general? I literally felt my Combustor slip out of my grip in the shock.

"You can talk?! How is that possible?!" The guy seemed to be slightly amused and relaxed.

"Not even I know the answer to that."

I stared at the thing in bewilderment. Not even he knew how he's able to talk? This guy's really starting to confuse me more and more. First I discovered that bizarre appearance of his and then I find out that he can somehow speak.

"Um... Hope you don't mind me asking, but what are you?" He chuckled nervously.

"That's a long story." Then, he looked me over again. "I could ask the same to you, umm..."

"Ratchet. I'm a Lombax. There's not many of us left." I decided to take the peaceful initiative and held out my free hand. To my relief, he smiled back. The guy seemed like he couldn't even be close to my age. Then, his gloved hand took mine.

"Lombax, huh? That's a new one in the Glade. I'm Rayman. Nice to meet you." Rayman? That's an unusual name. I wonder what that's about.

"The Glade? I've never heard of that place before."

"Well, it's a little bit complicated to explain, you see," Rayman said. "I would ask you about where you're from, but I have a feeling that it's also complicated too."

"I guess I don't have to go into too much detail about that now, huh?" I asked while chuckling sheepishly.

I caught a strange sound a moment later and some kind of barrier came between me and Rayman. We both stared in surprise and I tested the barrier with my hand. It was like there was a wall.

 _"Sometimes, you need to fight on your own..."_ the voice said.

"Am I the only that..."

"Heard a voice? Good, I'm not completely crazy," Rayman commented. Thank goodness I wasn't losing my mind either.

Dark monsters appeared a moment later. "Uh, have you seen anything like this, Rayman?"

"I've definitely never seen anything like these things before back at the Glade!" Rayman exclaimed.

The two of us slowly backed away from the strange monsters as they slowly approached us. Seriously, what are those things, anyway?

"They're not Nightmares..." I heard him say.

"Nightmares?"

"Either way, don't let these beasts touch you!" Quickly, Rayman began swinging his fists at the creeps. They're sent flying, but they got back up. Quickly, I grabbed for the Combustor and started blasting them.

I kept attacking them, but my weapon seemed useless. Just what are these things?

"Okay, these things are definitely not normal!" I exclaimed in surprise from the fact that my weapon did nothing to the creatures.

"Just what's with these things anyway?" Rayman asked. "It's like they're completely immune to everything we do to them!"

Suddenly, the things just disappeared and I heard the barrier go down.

 _"And sometimes, you need to fight alongside others."_ All of a sudden, a giant, distorted, grey monster with a strange symbol on its head climbed onto the platform.

"Wh-what is that thing?!" Rayman asked, obviously frightened.

"I-I don't know! Why would I recognize that thing?!" The monster attacked, swinging its claws at us. Both of us quickly jumped out of he way.

"We have to at least try to take this thing down!"

"I'm not sure if our attacks will do anything to this guy, but I guess it couldn't hurt to try!" Rayman said.

Sadly, however, our hopes of actually doing any to the creature immediately faded away. No matter how many times I shot at it with the Combustor or how many times Rayman hit it with his fists, not even a scratch appeared on the monster.

I felt nervous. Not like the usual live-or-die nervous on the battlefield like I'm used to, but we're-going-to-die nervous. That thing could really destroy us with one hit. We were both backing away from the monster, but we came to a halt when we saw that we had nowhere else to go.

I stared up at the creature, dread clutching my heart. I never felt more... terrified.

 _"You have been ill prepared to fight the new threats to your worlds,"_ the voice said. I was about to snap that of course we were, but then the voice spoke again. _"We will help you this one time."_

In a flash, the creature was struck by a large bolt of lightning. The creature cried out in pain for the first time. I heard the sound of a sword - A sword? Something that ancient? Come on - and a few seconds later, the monster fell apart and melted into darkness.

 _"Do not worry. You will make connections on your new journey. These connections will give you powers you can only imagine."_

I glanced over at Rayman and I could tell just by the look on his face that he was just perplexed as to what just happened before us as well.

Suddenly, the entire platform we were standing on soon became completely engulfed in a bright light. And for a split moment, I thought I heard the sounds of a loud, old fashioned clock.

"Who are you?" I heard Rayman ask.

 _"You will meet us soon."_ 'Us'?

"Hey Ratchet!" Rayman called through the light. "We'll meet again, right?"

"After what we've gone through, it is definitely possible."

I heard Rayman give a light chuckle.

"I had the same thought as well," Rayman said. "And until that day comes, I'll definitely keep thinking about this experience, Ratchet."

"Yeah. I'll definitely be thinking about this meeting with you too, Rayman," I said as a small smile began to form on my face.

"See you soon."

"Yeah, see ya." The last thing I remembered was... a warm, blinding light.

 _Tick tock... ding...!_

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Clank pushed me out of the way of Azimuth's attack. Wait, when did that happen? He was so fast. I felt like something else happened, but hitting the glass floor broke that thought. I got up and stared in disbelief as Azimuth.

He tried to kill me. He tried to kill me so he can bring back the Lombaxes.

Was the encounter with Rayman just a dream? It felt so real.

But whether it was a dream or not, I couldn't stop staring at Azimuth. Both of the thoughts of Rayman and the fact that Azimuth had attempted to end my life flooded my mind with seemingly no end.

Azimuth then took off on his hoverboots. I pushed all those thoughts away and began to pursuit him with Clank on my back.

End chapter.


	2. Chapter 1: Dark Invaders

**Chapter 1: Dark Invaders**

The engine was working fine thanks to that peculiar gem that Clank and I found in an asteroid belt after that meteor shower near Terachnos. It still surprised me that one little gem could power the entire mothership for a lifetime.

"Doing another check on the new engine again?" I heard Clank call.

"Well, you did say it could cause a meltdown if overused. How was the main computer?" My little pal shook his head.

"There has been no match as to what kind of crystal this specific gem is."

"Not even the possibility of being radioactive Raritanium?"

"If it was, the ship would've already imploded." I couldn't help but sigh. Ever since we found the glowing rock, Clank and I have been looking into what it could be. But we've had no luck.

 **"Are you two still going on about that rock?!"** Ah. Talwyn. She had been making sure the two of us weren't just focusing on the gem. **"Get up on the bridge now! We're being invaded!"**

"We're coming! Any idea what we will be dealing with when we get there?"

 **"That's just it!"** Talwyn said with a clear hint of panic in her voice. **"I literally have no idea what these things up here are! They don't resemble even a little bit of what we're used to fighting against!"**

Clank and I couldn't help but look at each other in surprise. Were we actually being invaded by some sort of species that none of us have encountered before in our lives?

"Ratchet, we must hurry and help Talwyn and Qwark!" Clank called.

"Yeah. I get you." Strapping Clank onto my back, I sprinted to the bridge of the Starship Phoenix.

If the invaders are related to the creatures I faced when I was with Rayman, then I am not sure how to take them down. Eventually, we managed to reach the bridge of the ship. And it was here that my initial thoughts of worry have come true, as the first thing I saw were the same dark monsters Rayman and I fought against.

"How did they get on the ship without the detectors picking them up?!" I shouted.

"They just popped out of nowhere, as far as I know!" Tal shouted, trying to shoot them with a Combustor.

"Our weapons won't work on them!" I had to blurt out.

"What do you mean?" Qwark questioned. "Nothing can get past this bod of muscles."

"Because you're a muscle head! We can't destroy them with what we have!"

"How do you know this?" Clank asked.

"If I told you, I think you'll believe I've lost my mind!" I dodged one of the monster, still futilely trying to keep them at bay with my Omniwrench.

The voice said Rayman and I were ill prepared to face the new threats to our worlds. Just what did it mean by that? And how much of a danger are these things? The truth behind everything seems like it is a ways away. Regardless, it was clear plain as day that none of our weapons were doing a thing against them. And it was obvious that Tal was getting more and more frustrated by the minute because of this.

"Ugh, our weapons aren't even doing a dent to them!" Tal shouted in frustration. "What are we supposed to even do here?!"

That was a very good question right there. If Rayman and I couldn't do anything to fight back against these things, then it was obvious, to me at least, that there was no way for us to actually win in this situation. Qwark was already running away, screaming like the coward he was. A swarm of them were coming straight for me and I had to grapple to the ceiling to dodge.

"Ratchet, I need to get a sample of those creatures," Clank said. "If the results come out what I deem possible, I may know a way to defeat them."

"Go down there?" I looked at the sea of black monsters.

"That sounds risky, but we're running out of options." I think that we need to learn about the creatures to make any progress. It was a risk that we needed to take. There was no other option in this situation.

"Here's hoping we find something to use against these guys!" I said, preparing to get back into the action happening before us.

And so, without any hesitation, I then jumped back down onto the bridge. Unsurprisingly, the dark creatures took notice of us and immediately started charging in our direction.

"Gah!" Clank gasped. I glanced over my shoulder. When did enemies get behind us?! It didn't matter until one of them leapt and landed on Clank.

"Clank!"

"I've got this!" Clank quickly swatted the bug off. "And I got the scan!"

"Great, pal!" I leapt over the swarm. "What are we against?"

"These monsters appear to be made of dark energy. If we expose them to a strong enough energy, it should disintegrate them!"

"Where are we going to get something like-?" An idea crossed my mind. "What about the gem?"

"Ratchet, as much as that is the solution, there is no telling what using that energy can do."

"It's our only shot, right?"

"I don't know about this... but we don't have many options left."

"Then let's do it!"

"Let's head to back to the engine room and get that stone as quickly as we can!" Clank said.

Without a second thought, I immediately bolted down to the engine room. If Clank's scan results were enough, then that gem we found must be the answer to fending off against those things we needed. I don't think I ever ran so fast before, not even on the edge of death at the many foes in the past.

The stone in the engine was illuminating a stronger light than previously.

"I don't know what to make of this," Clank muttered in surprise. "Its power has only increased in the few minutes we've been absent."

"Can you tap into it, buddy?"

"Too much of that energy in my system will cause a short circuit."

"Then how-" I couldn't finish before those things broke down the door. I wasn't even thinking when I just reached out and took hold of the gem. As soon as I made contact, the light only intensified, blinding me and Clank.

What is this... this power? I could feel it course through me. What is going on?

All of these thoughts were flooding my mind at once, seemingly with no end in sight. But I don't think I can blame myself from thinking about that stuff at the moment.

The light from the jewel continued to shed its blinding light for a while longer until it soon started to die down, eventually to the point where Clank and I can actually see once again. To our great surprise, all of the monsters were gone.

 **"Ratchet, what did you do?"** Talwyn called on the speaker again. **"Whatever that light was, it made all of the creeps disappear. Not to mention we've reached some kind of warp drive."**

"Warp drive?!" I wasn't expecting that.

 **"You and Clank better get back to the bridge! I don't think we can control the ship!"**

Hopefully the problems weren't too bad. After everything that's happened though, I didn't think I could predict what was about to go down at the bridge. With the jewel in hand and Clank still on my back, I immediately sprinted to the bridge. Once there, it was clear that what Talwyn said earlier was true. Those weird black things had completely vanished from sight, almost like they never attacked us in the first place.

Of course, that didn't really clear my worries completely as soon as I saw the warp drive in question right before the Starship Phoenix.

"What's the coordinates?"

"We don't know!" Talent yelled. "All we know is that we're going wherever this is heading!"

As soon as she said that, all I remembered was a flash of light from the warp drive and then followed by a loud crash.

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